Beginner Tips for Planner Starters

Bought a brand new planner and don't know where to start? Or, are you looking to enhance the planner you already have? These tips should help you uncover where to begin in your planner journey!

Step 1: Find a planner that suits your needs.

During my experience out in the planner community, a lot of people purchase a planner that is the most popular amongst a group of people and not one that is best for their needs (this was myself included). It is important that you choose a planner that best suits your daily, personal, emotional, and goal setting needs. There are a number of different planners out there: daily, weekly, vertical, horizontal, boxed, hourly, and come in different shapes and sizes including coil, disc bound, and notebook style. Depending on your lifestyle, job, goals, and what you are willing to write and keep up with in a day will determine which planner will work for you.

Here are some of my personal recommendations:

Hourly: you are a go-getter, business owner, busy stay-at-home mom, educator, manager, etc. and need to keep track of your life every thirty-minutes to an hour a day to keep track of meetings, schedule changes, events, and more. This gives you an overview of your day and you are able to see everything that you are required to handle that day. You are interested in delegating your time to maximize the moments in your day to provide balance between your work, home, and personal life. I would recommend either the Passion Planner or the Ink Well Press Planner (both notebook style). The Passion Planner comes in two different sizes, Compact (small) and Classic (large), so you have the choice of carrying around the Compact with you in your purse or bag, or writing in the Classic to leave on your desk at work or home. (Here is a link to the Passion Planner: https://amzn.to/2qnK9iO)

Undated Compact Passion Planner - Hourly

Daily: this planner is used for people who want to see and record the specifics of each day. This can range from recording the weather, noting any to-dos, creating a detailed plan for that day, and writing down or journaling a reflection of how that day went. There is plenty of room for writing, lists, note keeping, and more. This type of planner is perfect for anyone who likes to have a detailed breakdown of what they want to achieve in that particular day while creating a keepsake to look back on in the future. I would recommend the Hobonichi (notebook) or the Day Planner (coil) to keep track of your events in a detailed and lengthy view.

Weekly: this type of planner layout shows any given week in one spread and provides a weekly overview of the various appointments, events, to-dos, meetings, and scheduling on two pages. This is the most common type of planner set up and can come in vertical (boxed) and horizontal prints.

Boxed: this layout is recommended for those of you who like having your day sectioned off into three parts (morning, afternoon, and evening) or sectioning your days off based off your own categories (to-do, meal plan, exercise, cleaning, self-care, etc.) with space to decorate. As for yourself, you like being able to customize your weekly spreads while having room to add more decorations or events as the days progress. Most of the time, this type of planner is laid out in a vertical view, meaning each day runs from the top of the page to the bottom with seven columns across to create a weekly spread. There are a variety of Etsy shops that make sticker kits for these types of planners and are used to decorate or organize your week. With this being the most popular type of planner for a variety of reasons, it is the most supported. I would recommend either the Erin Condren (coil), Happy Planner (disc-bound), or Recollections Planner (coil).

Vertical Boxed Weekly Layout - Recollections Coil

Horizontal: this type of planner has a weekly spread on two pages, however the format is laid out with any given day going across the page from left to right with anywhere between 3-4 boxes laid out on each page, creating a weekly spread. This planner format is great for those who wish to write out their plans in more than just a few keywords or just simply prefer having more space to write from left to right. I would recommend either the Erin Condren (coil), Happy Planner (disc-bound), Mini Happy Planner (disc-bound), or a Recollections Planner (coil).

Horizontal Mini Happy Planner - Disc bound

Step 2: Decide how you are going to use your planner and what you need your planner for.

Are you going to use your planner to track your meetings and appointments? Your day-to-day expenses and excursions? How about your memories and events? How ever you decide to use your planner, there is no right or wrong way to do so.

Option 1: Keeping track of appointments, meetings, important dates, birthdays, celebrations, anniversaries. This is pretty basic with any planner you purchase or make yourself.

Option 2: Scrap-booking each and every day; this can be done by applying pictures of any special events that happened that day, attaching any movie tickets, souvenirs, or memorabilia to the pages, and writing anywhere from a few sentences to a few paragraphs on how the day went, what you accomplished, and what you want to remember most about it.

(Left) Classic Happy Planner Vertical Weekly Layout (Middle) Happy Planner Snap-in Accessory for adding pictures and notes (Right) My January Monthly Re-Cap in Recollections Coil

Option 3: Goal tracking is a great way to mind-map and sort out what goals you want to achieve. The Passion Planner is great with this because it has a mind map at the very start of the planner to help you get your ideas down and sort out what you want to achieve in your life, in three years, in three months, and now. The planner is then broken down into monthly and weekly layouts with spots in between to check up on your progress and what you need to change in your habits and routine in order to accomplish what you have set out for yourself.

Option 4: Expense tracking is not something a lot of people do, but can really help manage money and budget your paycheck to the aspects of your monthly expenses that really matter. Many planner companies are producing planners that focus strictly around budgeting and keeping track of your expenses, such as the Happy Planner Budget Edition, that can really help make an impact on your wallet if you are attempting to save up for a vacation, or are just naturally horrible at putting away money in a savings account. However, purchasing a budgeting specific planner isn't necessary if you don't plan on breaking every cent or dollar down to a perfect science to save up to a specific amount on the dime. In fact, you can keep up with how much money you make or spend a day by making a small note in your day-to-day plans in the planner you already own.

Option 5: Journaling, free-styling, making to-do lists, drawing, making trackers, planning out goals, grocery lists, and so much more in one chaotic but organized place would be the bullet journal. This would allow you to write anything, anywhere without having to worry about pre-printed constraints or structure. The structure in your bullet journal is the structure you made for it yourself based off what you like, prefer, or want for any given day, week, or month.

Step 3: Get your pens, stickers, washi, and accessories ready!

Now it's time to spruce up your planner and personalize it to your tastes. As you've probably guessed, there are a number of different brands of pens, stickers, washi, and accessories out in the planner market, so I will help you on which supplies could work best with your planner.

Pens

From my personal experience, I have used a range of pens; anything between between cheap $0.99 Walmart generic pens to expensive $19.99 pack of pens. Yes, of course, as long as you have a pen to write with, you've won half the battle right? But the type of pen, how well it's made, and how the ink transfers on to paper makes a big difference, especially when you are going to be using your planner quite often. Here are a list of my recommendations based on what I have personally tried and used:

Option 1: Papermate Ink Joy Gel Pens 0.7mm - These pens glide on the canvas of your paper as you make twists, turns, and loops with your lettering as you write. They write like gel pens, but dry like regular pens so there is no fear for smear (that rhymed!). There is no bleed through, but minimal ghosting on the opposite side of the page.

• Link: https://amzn.to/2HdgcLV

Option 2: Staedtler Triplus Fine Liners 0.3mm - The perfect description for these pens are small little precise markers. They write great, no bleed if you are not sitting the pen on the paper for more than a few seconds, and minimal ghosting on the opposite side of the page. These pens are great for color coding, emphasizing, or even coloring in your planner.

• Link: https://amzn.to/2v6znlY

Option 3: Sakura Micron Pigma 0.3mm - This is my absolute favorite pen. It is thin, doesn't bleed, hardly any ghosting, and writes like a precise marker (just like the Staedtler). The pen has a perfect balance of weight as it rests in your hand as you write.

• Link: https://amzn.to/2GQ8rIn

Option 4: Pilot G2 0.7mm - This pen is great for those who love pens that write like gel pens (like the Papermate Ink Joy) but want to look professional while writing. The staple black look to the pen is a classic to anyone's planner pen collection.

• Link: https://amzn.to/2v4XfWS

I personally shift between these four all the time, depending on if I am writing in an appointment, drawing, coloring, doodling, or making an important note on my monthly calendar.

Stickers

There is soooo much variety when it comes to stickers. You have the Happy Planner line that pushes out their own stickers that work perfectly with their planners, Recollections distributes their own stickers at Michael's stores for those who own Recollection planners, and then you have a hoard of Etsy shops where individual people have custom made stickers that can fit a variety of different planners to suit your needs. But there is a difference between stickers; some are used for functionality, whereas some are used for decoration purposes only. In addition, you have some stickers that are removable once you put it down on paper (also known as re-positionable), non-removable, matte, and regular. The style, color, and usage of stickers are endless!

Washi

Washi is essentially tape, but super cute, colorful, and decorated with quotes, sayings, inspirational words, items, objects, food, animals, and more! Washi is used to decorate your weekly spreads, daily spreads, monthly spreads, or to tab important events and dates on your page. It can also be used to grab your attention to something important on your page at first glance. There are multiple uses for washi in a planner, including bookmarking a page by lining the edge with tape so that the page is distinguishable from the rest of the book. The possibilities are endless here as well!

Accessories

Accessories vary based off company and the type of planner you have. Planner companies like Erin Condren, Recollections, and Happy Planner make their own set of accessories that help compliment your planner, whereas there are other accessories that you can purchase from other companies that may not specifically serve your planner or planner type, but can help nonetheless. Accessories range from pencil pouches, pens, markers, book markers, page inserts, planner covers, pen loops, carrying cases, sticker packs, paper clips, binder clips, and more!

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If you are a new planner person yourself, I hope this balloon of information has helped you understand the uses, importance, and meaning behind all of this planner mumbo-jumbo! This is in no way shape or form meant to overwhelm, but to help clarify the different aspects of items used, praised, and loved in the planner community. When it all comes down to it, the ONLY thing you really need is your planner and a good pen; the other stuff can come along the way when needed and ready. :)